Nucor (NUE) Guides Q1 EPS Below Consensus

Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) today announced guidance for its first quarter ending March 30, 2019. Nucor expects first quarter earnings to be in the range of $1.45 to $1.50 per diluted share. This range is a decrease compared to fourth quarter of 2018 earnings of $2.07 per diluted share and an increase relative to first quarter of 2018 earnings of $1.10 per diluted share.

(Street sees Q1 EPS of $1.63)

Included in the first quarter of 2018 results was an expense of $21.8 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, related to the write off of deferred tax assets due to the change in the tax status of a subsidiary.

Sheet pricing is rebounding as recent price increases are taking hold

We expect earnings of the steel mills segment in the first quarter of 2019 to decrease from the fourth quarter of 2018 due primarily to lower average selling prices and margins in our sheet mill group. We believe that sheet pricing reached the low point during the first quarter and are encouraged by the impact of recent price increases. Additionally, we are experiencing shipment delays to construction customers of our steel mills and steel products segments due to an unusually wet winter season.

The performance of the raw materials segment is expected to decrease in the first quarter of 2019 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 due to margin compression in our DRI businesses, which have experienced declining average selling prices since the fourth quarter of 2018.

The profitability of our steel products segment in the first quarter of 2019 is expected to be similar to the fourth quarter of 2018.

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